


Searching and Finding

by Vidriana



Series: Talented [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-26 20:15:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15008591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vidriana/pseuds/Vidriana
Summary: The chances of purposefully stumbling upon a hidden talent are miniscule to the point where almost no one would ever attempt such a thing. Most people are perfectly content with assuming they’re ordinary, because, after all, most people are ordinary.As long as he can remember, Hampus has never wanted to be ordinary.





	Searching and Finding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [frecklebombfic (frecklebomb)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/frecklebomb/gifts).



> Happy Birthday, love <3
> 
> I hope you like this very niche, little fic about the adventures of our favorite Instagram sunshine!
> 
> Special thanks to elenajames for beta-reading!

The only way to know if someone has a talent is to wait for it to reveal itself. It either happens, or it doesn’t. 

There is no way of knowing when a talent might manifest, whether a person might be born with it, if it develops slowly, growing inside the person over the course of years, or if it simply appears from one moment to the other. 

Most people go through their lives never showing any signs of the extraordinary, but for those who do there’s always a story. 

A story of a little child talking to their pets and only realizing later on that the adults around them can’t understand a thing, of a woman who suddenly starts hearing words that haven’t been spoken aloud. Of an old man who one day woke up with the unshakable certainty that it would start raining within the hour and who has been able to tell ever since.

A story of a little boy who suddenly started to feel the endlessly compounding joy of his whole team after winning a hockey game, who decided then and there that he never wants to do anything else in his life.

Of course, finding a talent isn’t always painless and carefree. There’s a person that never knew they could fly until they fell out of a window, or someone who stopped time in the middle of a crossroad when they almost got run over by a bus. There’s a person who finds out they can heal almost anything in their body, but the way to finding a talent like that is never pretty. 

Thankfully, this isn’t that kind of story.

In any case, there isn’t a medical test, no scientific method to determine if someone is talented except rigorous trial and error. Even then, the chances of purposefully stumbling upon a hidden talent are miniscule to the point where almost no one would ever attempt such a thing. Most people are perfectly content with assuming they’re ordinary, because, after all, most people are ordinary. 

As long as he can remember, Hampus has never wanted to be ordinary.

————— 

“Please be careful!” his mother calls from somewhere on the ground, but Hampus doesn’t listen, too busy reaching for the next branch that will hold him. “Don’t go too high!” he is reprimanded again, but Hampus just shakes his head, tongue sticking out of his mouth in concentration. 

“But maybe it doesn’t work if I’m not high enough,” he calls, grabbing hold of a branch just big enough for him to wrap his small hand around completely. He takes a deep breath and pushes off. The branch makes a dramatic creaking sound at suddenly having to hold Hampus’ whole weight, but it doesn’t give as he hangs from it, feet swinging freely in the air. 

When he looks down it seems like a much larger drop from up here than it had from the ground. The shimmering water far underneath him doesn’t look familiar now, but like a deep, dark hole that might swallow him if he lets go. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, opens his hands.

Thankfully it’s not a long fall and the impact on the water’s surface doesn’t hurt. Still, coming up sputtering, his cold, wet clothes dragging uncomfortably at his body, isn’t very pleasant. Neither is the heavy disappointment in his chest, or the way his mother yells at him from the shore when his little sister finally does the inevitable and jumps in behind him.

Hampus is seven years old when he learns that he can’t fly. He’s sad about it for a couple of days, but ultimately gets over it. He never really liked heights anyway.

————— 

Hampus is lying in the cozy sheets of the hotel bed, his eyes wide open. Tomorrow is the first game of the U18 championship and he’s far too nervous to sleep, so he does what he always does in situations like this. He reaches out one hand towards the lamp hanging from the ceiling and focuses.

“What are you doing?” a voice from the other bed asks, and Hampus startles. Alex looks over with curious eyes, just as wide awake as Hampus is, probably just as nervous if not more.

Hampus doesn’t know Alex well, barely knows him at all actually, given that he’s a year younger. He bites his lip.

“I’m trying to move the lamp with my mind,” he finally admits. Alex sits up abruptly, his eyes going even wider.

“You have telekinesis?” He sounds awed and Hampus feels the heat rushing to his cheeks when he shakes his head.

“Probably not. But I like to try every once in a while. Just in case, you know?” He shrugs, trying to see casual, but it feels stiff and awkward. Alex doesn’t laugh at him though. He just nods, like Hampus isn’t strange at all, and relaxes back into his pillows a bit more.

“Makes sense,” he says thoughtfully. “Why telekinesis though? Isn’t that a bit...much?”

Hampus shrugs again, much more at ease this time. “Go big or go home,” he says, trying to get Alex to smile. “If I’m gonna have a talent, why not try for something really special?”

Alex shuffles around in the darkness for a bit, as if trying to get comfortable. “I guess, it’s cool to imagine,” he finally says. “But what if you actually have a high level talent? I mean, you’d probably get recruited by the government or some secret organization or something,” Alex muses.

Hampus lies back down as well, staring up at the ceiling. “I don’t see how that’d be a bad thing. I could be some sort of superhero,” he jokes, but it’s only sort of a joke, and he idly wonders if Alex can hear the longing in his voice. 

“That would be cool,” Alex agrees slowly, his voice sounding a bit slurred as he’s drifting closer to sleep. “No hockey though.”

That brings Hampus up short. In all his daydreams of a future in which he saves the world, he’d never really thought about what he’d have to give up for that sort of life.

Hampus is eighteen and only a couple of months from being drafted into the NHL when he decides that maybe a more lowkey talent would suit him better after all.

————— 

Premonition is a surprisingly common talent, mostly because there is pretty much an infinite number of things that someone might be able to predict. Much to Hampus relief, most premonitions are level three at best and have no use in the world-saving business, so it really would be a good talent to have.

“I think we can cross tennis matches off the list as well,” Bill announces, already rummaging through the nightstand in search for a pen. He pauses. “Actually, maybe we should check you don’t have reverse premonitions or something because you’re seriously bad at this.”

Hampus throws a pillow at him and immediately regrets when he tries to lean back in his bed and finds a substantial part missing.

Bill had volunteered to keep the list of things Hampus cannot predict. So far it includes: Lottery numbers, the weather, flight delays, traffic patterns, and, as the most recent addition, results of sporting events. If he’s completely honest the last one is kind of a relief, because that feels a little too close to cheating. 

“I hate you,” he declares without any real conviction. 

“No you don’t. You love me,” Bill declared, already scribbling his newest findings on the list. 

Hampus is twenty years old when he learns that he can’t even vaguely predict the future, but that having a friend he can trust with his search is worth much more anyway.

—————

“Hey, come here, girl! Yes, perfect, you’re a good girl aren’t you? Such a good girl!” Hampus coos lovingly as the lab happily trots over to get her ears petted.

“You know, I think it might be better for everyone involved if she can’t actually understand you,” Rikard says. Hampus doesn’t even glare at him because there is a lady who clearly appreciates his attention much more than his best friend.

Hampus is twenty one when he’s reasonably certain he can’t talk to animals. Well, he’s reasonably sure they can’t understand him at that point. That doesn’t stop him from talking to every single dog he meets.

————— 

“Rikky,” Hampus whines, flopping down on a lounger. Rikard groans and reluctantly turns over, one hand shielding his eyes as he looks at Hampus.

“What?”

“I’m bored,” Hampus declares. “Entertain me.” Rikard rolls his eyes.

“Go talk to some dogs or something,” he grumbles, already turning back on his stomach, clearly planning to ignore Hampus in favor of attempting to tan, though it’s much more likely that he’ll simply end up with a new batch of freckles across is shoulders.

“You know that’s not my talent,” Hampus complains, and Rikard just shrugs haplessly.

“That’s never stopped you before.” Hampus pouts, because there isn’t really anything he can say to that. 

“Maybe you should try branching out to different animals,” Freddie suggests from where he’s sensibly sitting in the shade of an oversized beach umbrella. “How about talking to some cats for a change?”

Hampus scoffs. “If that’s my talents, I don’t want it,” he declares, even though it’s a lie and they all know it. 

“Maybe you should try talking to the fishes,” Rikard suggest, clearly teasing now and Hampus send him and offended look. 

“There aren’t even any fishes here, we’re at a pool,” he complains, but Rikard doesn’t even react. Freddie just sends him an amused look before turning back to his book. 

Hampus waits a few more moments, but neither of them does anything interesting. He looks out at the water in front of him, completely clear and fish-free and then jumps in without further ado.

He lets himself sink to the ground, even pushing further down when he starts to drift upwards on his own again. The water feels good surrounding his body, cool and welcoming. Comforting, like he belongs here.

In the end he really should have figured it out earlies. In the end, it takes Freddie raising a skeptical eyebrow at him when he finally reemerges for things to click into place.

Hampus is twenty two years old when he finds out that he can hold his breath underwater for about four times as long as he should reasonably be able to. It’s nothing like the spectacular talents he’d dreamed of when he was a child, but it’s his own, and he couldn’t be happier.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed my favorite Duck!
> 
> Additional info: Alex is Alexander Wennberg and was at the U18 WJC with Hampus (which is what this fic revers to). I doubt very much that they were roommates, but, creative freedom and all that ;)
> 
> You can always find me on my [writing Tumblr](https://vidrianawrites.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
